Book 1. 



AGRICULTURE IN POLYNESIA. 



169 



186 



agricultural labourers at home. The system of rearing and fattening cattle is perfectly 

 analogous to that which is pursued at Port Jackson. The natural grasses afford an 

 abundance of pasturage at all seasons of the year, and no provision of winter provender, 

 in the shape either of hay or artificial food, is made by the settler for his cattle ; yet, 

 notwithstanding this palpable omission, and the greater length and severity of the winters, 

 all descriptions of stock attain here a much larger size than at Port Jackson. Wool has 

 every promise of becoming a staple commodity of Van Diemen's Land. It was at first 

 thought that the climate was more favourable for the production of carcass than of fleece; 

 but it has been found since the introduction of merinos, that wool can be produced in 

 every respect as good as that of New South Wales. In 1822, upwards of 300,000 lbs. 

 of wool were consigned to London, which sold there at prices equal to those given for 

 the wool of New South Wales and Saxony. Those who are desirous of more ample 

 information respecting this colony, which certainly ranks as the first in the world for a 

 British emigrant, may consult Kingdoms British Colonies, 1820; Evans's Van Diemen's 

 Land, 1824; Godwin's Emigrant's Guide to Van Siemens Land, 1823; Widowson's 

 Van Siemens L.and, 1 829. 



1052. New Britain, New Ireland, the Solomon Isles, New 

 Caledonia, and the New Hebrides, are little known. They are 

 mountainous and woody, with fertile vales and beautiful 

 streams. The nutmeg, cocoa, yam, ginger, pepper, plantains 

 (Jig. 136.), sugar canes, and other fruit and spice trees, 

 abound. 



1053. Papua, or New Guinea, partakes of the opulence of 

 the Moluccas (1033.), and their singular varieties of plants and 

 animals. The coasts are lofty, and abound with cocoa trees. In 

 the interior, mountain rises above mountain, richly clothed 

 with woods of great variety of species, and abounding in wild 

 swine. Birds of paradise and elegant parrots abound : they are 

 shot with blunt arrows, or caught with birdlime or nooses. The 

 bowels and breast being extracted, they are dried with smoke 

 and sulphur, and sold for nails or bits of iron to such navigators as touch at the island. 



*1054. New Zealand has scarcely any agriculture, except plantations of yam, cocoa, and 

 sweet potato. There is only one shrub or tree in this country which produces fruit, 

 and that is a kind of a berry almost tasteless ; but they have a plant (Phormium tenax) 

 which answers all the uses of hemp and flax. There are two kinds of this plant, the 

 leaves of one of which are yellow, those of the other deep red, and both resembling the 

 leaves of flags. Of these leaves they make lines and cordage much stronger than any 

 thing of the kind in Europe ; they likewise split them into breadths, and tying the 

 slips together form their fishing-nets. Their common apparel, by a simple process, 

 is made from these leaves ; and their finer, by another preparation, is made from the 

 fibres. This plant is found both on high and low ground, in dry mould and deep 

 bogs ; but as it grows largest in the latter, that seems to be its proper soil. It has lately 

 been found to prosper in the south of Ireland, but not to such an extent as to determine 

 its value. 



Sect. III. Of the present State of Agriculture in Polynesia. 



1055. This sixth great division of the earth's surface consists of a number of islands in 

 the northern and southern hemispheres, which, though at present chiefly inhabited by 

 savages, are yet, from their climate and other circumstances, singularly adapted for cul- 

 ture and civilisation. The principal are the Pellew Isles, the Ladrone Isles, the Sand- 

 wich Isles, in the northern hemisphere ; and the Friendly Isles, the Navigator's Isles, 

 the Society Isles, the Georgian Isles, and the Marquesas, in the southern hemisphere. 



1056. The Pellew Isles are covered with wood, and encircled by a coral reef. None 

 of these islands has any sort of grain or quadruped ; but they are rich in the most 

 valuable fruit and spice trees, including the cabbage tree (Areca oleracea) (fig. 137.), 

 cocoa, plantain, and orange; and abound with wild cocks and hens, and many other birds. 

 The culture of the natives only extends to yams and cocoa-nuts. 



1057. The Ladrones are a numerous collection of rocky fragments, little adapted to 

 agriculture. The isles of Guam and Tinian are exceptions. The latter abounds in 

 cattle and fruits, the bread-fruit, and orange, but is without agriculture. 



1058. The Marquesas are in general rocky and mountainous, and include very few 

 spots fit for cultivation. The inhabitants are savages, but rudely cultivate the yam 

 in some places. They have, however, the ava, or intoxicating pepper (1029.) ; and 

 procure also a strong liquor from the root of ginger, for the same general purpose 

 of accumulating enjoyment, forgetting care, and sinking into profound sleep. 



1059. The Sandwich Isles resemble those of the West Indies in climate, and the rest 

 of the South Sea islands in vegetable productions. The bread-fruit tree attain* 



